[Jan. 7th, 1855.]
I. What is it?
Walking with any one is a familiar Scripture phrase for fellowship or communion. Walking with God, therefore, is habitual communion with him. 1. This includes a sense of his presence, a belief that he is, that he notices us, and is cognizant of our state and acts.
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A sense of his favor, a conviction that he is reconciled to us, and that he loves us.
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A continued reference to him in our inward and outward conduct; an outgoing of the heart and thoughts towards him in prayer, thanksgiving, love, reverence and confidence; and the consequent desire and effort to accommodate ourselves to his will, and to please him.
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The believing reception of his communications to us. God dwells with his people. He manifests himself to them as he does not unto the world. He reveals to them his glory. He sheds abroad his love in their hearts. He by his Spirit brings his word and promises to mind, and thus maintains a constant intercourse between himself and the souls in whom he dwells.
II. The necessary conditions of thus walking with God are
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First of all, reconciliation through the blood of Christ. Men are under God’s wrath and curse. There can be no friendly intercourse until they are reconciled. And there is no reconciliation but through the blood of Christ.
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Regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without holiness no man can see or have fellowship with God. Unless, therefore, we be renewed in the temper of our minds, so as to desire and delight in God, we can have no fellowship with him.
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Keeping the conscience free from guilt, and the mind from pollution. God will not come into a heart in which unholy affections are deliberately cherished. Pride, malice, envy, jealousy and all uncleanness must be banished, and the graces of the Spirit kept in lively exercise, in the use of all the appointed means of grace, if we would walk with God.
III. The advantages of walking with God are
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That it purifies and elevates the soul. It tends to depress and weaken, and to strengthen all the principles of grace. It makes us like God.
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It is the source of peace, it is the life of the soul, the highest form of its activity, and the perennial source of blessedness. It is independent of all external circumstances. It may be enjoyed in solitude, in sickness, in poverty. It satisfies and fills the soul, and renders it blessed, so that no other good is desired. “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee.”
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It gives strength to do, to resist temptation, to bear trials and sufferings. It gives us power for good over our fellow-men to a greater extent than anything else. It cannot be imitated or feigned or assumed, any more than a cold body can appear hot. The power emanates from the reality, not from the semblance. A painted flame gives no heat.
Remarks
- This walking with God is not inconsistent with activity in outward duties. It does not require monastic seclusion. 2. It is absolutely necessary in order to prevent outward duties and forms of activity in religious works degenerating into mere heartless formality or worldly business. A man may conduct missions as he would conduct a mercantile enterprise.
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